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The second half of the ’80s was challenging for Queen. The acclaimed Live Aid performance was forgotten, the “Highlander” soundtrack incorporated “A Kind Of Magic” into the film’s failure – and in 1987 Freddie Mercury received his HIV diagnosis. The band demonstrated unity and for the first time did not name four songwriters for the “Miracle” authorship, but only one: “Queen”. However, instead of competing with new bands like Guns N’ Roses, the Brits produced their ’89 album as a conglomerate of Led Zeppelin power (“I Want It All”), trends like house (“The Invisible Man”), more political history lesson (“Scandal”) and wobbly bass (“Breakthru”); there was also a too hasty “Bohemian Rhapsody” pastiche (“The Miracle”).
Hearing Freddie’s voice is always an experience
The work would have sounded better as a pure guitar-bass-drums album, but now it is considered a whining harbinger of the swan song that appeared two years later, the classic rock of “Innuendo”. Mercury did not make his illness public in 1989, pieces like “Party” or “Too Much Love Will Kill You”, which was deleted at the time and added to the edition here, now appear in a different light. The album isn’t bad, but given its status, the reissue, which is their most opulent at 51 tracks across eight discs, feels overblown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jklLWWes-Jo
Embedded in outtakes, maxi singles and studio chat, the six unreleased Mercury tracks – more than in any other edition since his death in 1991 – offer the actual incentive to buy. Hearing Freddie’s voice is always an experience. But Queen weren’t unreasonably strict when compiling their album tracklists. In about twenty years, they’ve only released a few B‑sides or popularized outtakes – because they just aren’t good enough. “Face It Alone” is too sentimental, “Dog With A Bone” too verbose, “A New Life Is Born”, which should flow into “Breakthru”, is missing. It would have been an appropriate climax.
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No demos, lots of live tracks: the double albums remain hard rock milestones.
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